Sleep
by waffleman1314
Summary: Ever since Perry and Xhirx's quintuplets were born, the one thing Perry's really wanted was to be able to sleep. But, can he get that tonight? One-shot, based off of The Legacy Series: Love.


**Just a little one-shot based off of The Legacy Series. Takes place after Love, hope you enjoy. -AJ ThaPlatypus**

* * *

Sleep. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Here in my bed, the world is at peace and comfort greets me at the end of a very long and tiring day. I lay down under the covers and faced the door. Closing my eyes, I waited for a moment, and then I heard my bedroom door swing open. Seconds later, I'm pleased to find that Xhirx is curled up into me, providing me with her loving warmth and calming presence. She falls asleep rather quickly. I don't know how she does it. One would think that she, being the mother of five, six-week old Hidari and also just finding out she was pregnant again last week, would be having more trouble sleeping than I, but that was not the case. Ever since we'd gotten home from Invinci, she's been sleeping like a baby and I've been tossing and turning for hours on end, trying to keep my eyelids shut. Tonight is no exception.

We lay there for a while, her sleeping in my arms and against my chest and me just lying there and holding her close. I relished the few moments I had, because just as I had gotten comfortable, I heard a cry from the next room over. Sighing, I gently pulled away from my mate and crawled out of bed. I made my way out of the bedroom and tiptoed over to the room where the quintuplets were sleeping. Phineas' mom had woken up and was giving me a look. Trying not to be rude, I gave her an apologetic smile and proceeded to check on my kids. She, of course, followed me into the room.

I walked over to the one that was crying. It was Jamie, as usual. Picking her up, I held her close to me and did my best to soothe her. She was probably waking up from a horrible nightmare again. I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room and stroked her spine a little as I held her up to my chest. Linda watched me; I suppose to make sure I was actually acting fatherly.

"D-Daddy, t-the nightmares, t-they came b-back," Jamie squeaked, her little voice wavering with her quick, short breathing.

"Calm down, baby girl, Daddy's here, Daddy's got'cha," I told her softly. I felt her tiny little fists grab onto my fur and clench it tightly. I glanced over to Linda and blinked a little. She just smiled at me. "They're just nightmares; they can't jump out and get you."

"T-then why do they c-come in my head?" Jamie asked, tears falling down her cheeks. A pang of hurt caught me in the stomach and I did my best not to show Jamie that her tears saddened me.

"Because of…of fear," I said, sure enough that Jamie could understand that. She cocked her head a little and narrowed her eyes. "Do you fear the dark?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Then what _do_ you fear?" I asked her. She seemed to consider this a moment. Her little eyes stared off into space as she thought. When she looked back to me, I could see that she'd thought of something.

"I'm scared of strangers," she said, her voice still unsure if she could trust that everything would be alright. "They were in my dreams. Talking to me. Trying to say I knew them."

"Well, because you have a fear of strangers, that is what you dreamed about," I explained. She shifted a little in my arms. "You see, dreams are thoughts we have or fears we have that sort of shuffle through our heads like cards in a deck. Sometimes, these thoughts mash together and create crazy dreams we don't understand. Sometimes they stand alone. But they create visions in our heads while we sleep. They aren't real. They're just what we think about when we're asleep."

"What do you think about when you sleep?" Jamie piped up, suddenly very interested in this conversation. I laughed a little.

"Many, many things," I sighed. I couldn't tell her about my dreams. That would only scare her. She looked at me, expecting something a little more than what I'd said. "Jamie, my dreams are a little different than everyone else's."

"But what, Daddy?" she pleaded. "What do you think about when you sleep?"

"Family, mostly," I told her. It wasn't a lie. "I usually dream about family. About you, and your sister, your brothers. About your mother. About Uncles Phineas and Ferb, and your Aunt Candace. About their parents."

"So…all good dreams?" she smiled. I shook my head.

"No, not all good dreams," I said with a sigh. "Sometimes they can be…scary."

"You get scared, too, Daddy?" she asked, her eyes getting wide with shock and amazement. I could see Linda trying not to laugh out of the corner of my eye. "But how do _you_ get scared?"

"Everyone's scared of something," I chuckled. I smiled as she considered this for a second. "Do you think you can go back to sleep for me?"

"Yes, Daddy," she nodded. Standing back up, I walked her back over to her bed and laid her down in it. I tucked her back in and nuzzled her with my bill a little bit. She giggled a little and curled up. "Daddy, that tickles!"

"Oh, yeah?" I laughed. I reached my hands over and tickled her belly a little. She giggled even more. "Didn't I tell you to go to sleep?"  
"I can't fall asleep while you're tickling me, Daddy!" she cried, trying her hardest not to laugh too loudly. I stopped and ruffled the fur on top of her head a little bit. Her eyes flitted open and looked up at me lovingly. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you, too, Jamie," I smiled. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, readjusted the blanket over her, and then quietly left the room. Linda closed the door behind me and just stood there, smiling down at me. "What?"

"Oh, just you," she remarked. She walked off towards the kitchen. Determined to figure her out, I followed her. I was also kind of hoping for an excused snack. Once we got into the kitchen, I headed straight for the fridge and opened it up. "Perry, didn't I _just_ feed you, what, two hours ago?"

"Hmm?" I turned around and looked at her, holding a jar of pickles in my right hand.

"What, pray tell, do you plan to do with those, mister?" she smirked.

"I was thinking about fixing a sandwich," I said honestly. She laughed and sat down at the table looking into the kitchen. I pulled out some other fixings and managed to get them up onto the countertop. After I'd gathered my desired components, I hopped up on the counter and sat down to make my sandwich.

"I just don't get it," Linda sighed, shaking her head.

"Don't get what?" I asked, spreading some mustard onto a piece of bread.

"How for five years I was convinced you were a brainless animal, but in the span of a year I learn that you're not only so intelligent that you can use human tools without flaw and be completely violent at times, but you can also be as gentle as a mother with a baby," she stated. I gave her a somewhat confused look. "It's just hard to understand, is all."

"I guess I play the role of 'house pet' very strangely, don't I?" I half-laughed. I opened up the cheese and laid a few slices down over the mustard.

"You don't really count as a house pet anymore," she told me. "You're more like another child. Granted, you're more like an adult child than a Phineas and Ferb age child, but you get the picture."

"You truthfully see me as a child of yours?" I frowned. She shrugged a little. I put some meat over the cheese. It looked like chicken; I'm going to assume it was chicken. "I mean, let's be honest here; I'm not human, have a hard time portraying some actions of mine anthropomorphically, and c'mon; I shouldn't even be talking."

"Yes, but, Perry, I've practically raised you with Phineas," she pointed out. "You were six weeks old when that kind fellow gave us to you. Just a little baby. You were, say, about the size of Jamie; perhaps smaller. And now look at you- full grown, got yourself a job, a wife, and a handful of kids."

"I didn't know it meant so much to you," I said, trying to hide the blush from my slight embarrassment at the mention of myself as a baby.

"Well, you're a part of the family," she smiled. "You should feel like it."

I returned her smile and continued to build my sandwich. For a moment, we sat in utter silence. Then, we heard footsteps. Both of us looked up to see Xhirx walking in and rubbing her eyes. I put a few extra layers of cheese on my sandwich and topped it off with another piece of bread.

"Hey, Xhirx," I greeted. She looked up at me and then looked at my sandwich.

"Perry Flynn, I _know_ you are not going to eat that after you had a particularly filling dinner," she sighed. I nodded my head yes and picked it up. "Perry…"

"What?" I blinked. I took a bite out of the sandwich and chewed on it a little.

"Nothing," she moaned. She went and sat down in a chair next to Linda and leaned over the tabletop, holding her head in her hands.

"Xhirxhti, what's the matter?" Linda asked.

"I woke up not feeling good and found out my husband wasn't in the bed," she groaned. I scooped up my sandwich, hopped off the counter, and went to sit next to her. "It was just like, I didn't even have time to think; instant nausea."

"Aww, baby," I frowned and pulled her away from the tabletop so that I could hold her close to me. She relaxed herself up against my side and leaned her head on my chest. Her eyes closed, either from lack of will to keep them open or from the comfort that I was holding her.

"Nausea?" Linda sat forward a little. "Did you eat something your stomach disagrees with?"

"No, no," Xhirx waved a hand dismissively. "Just the perks of pregnancy."

"You're pregnant _again_?" Linda blinked. She looked at me and gave me a look that read, 'Seriously? You couldn't wait to let her have a break from being pregnant the first time around?' I just shrugged.

"Yeah," Xhirx laughed. She looked up at me and smiled. "I don't know how he does it."

"Well," I started, but she interrupted me by giving me a quick kiss on the mouth.

"Don't complain, _mhn aybil_," she told me. Linda now gave her a curious look. "In the society I come from, children are such a rare gift that having just one is a miracle. If Perry were a Kyea, well, even Amoyx's rival nation would respect us."

"So, what you're saying is that you'll keep having children until you can't have them anymore?" Linda suggested with a small laugh to herself. Xhirx turned her head to look at the human woman.

"Yes, of course," she replied.

I started to figure out the odds that we'd end up with more kids than was deemed normal in human standards. From what she said, Kyea conception was exceedingly rare, yet she was on her second pregnancy already. Perhaps maybe only ten or so would be fine for me; seeing as if she was carrying multiples right now, like she was the first time, we'd have more kids than I could deem possible to manage already. I hurriedly finished my sandwich in about five bites.

"Hmm, well," I said, making sure to swallow before I said anything further. "Well, it is late, and I'm more tired than you can imagine. I think I'm going to, ya know, hit the sack."

"I'm coming with you," Xhirx smiled. I hopped down out of the chair and pulled her down with me. She laughed. "Goodnight, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher."

"Goodnight, you two," she laughed.

We walked out of the kitchen and headed straight for our bedroom. Xhirx had left the door open slightly. I grabbed the handle of the door and pushed it open just a little more and let us both in. Then I shut the door promptly behind us and crawled back up into the bed. As I settled down, Xhirx crawled in next to me and curled up in my arms once more.

"So, why were you up, baby?" she mumbled. I wrapped my arms around her waist and nuzzled her a little.

"One of our little angels had a nightmare," I told her. "But she's sleeping softly now, don't worry."

"Thank you," she whispered. I kissed her cheek, causing her to laugh a little.

"You're very welcome," I chuckled. She shifted a little in my arms and nestled up against me more. "I know you had a long day. You deserve your rest."

"I love you," she murmured.  
"I love you, too," I smiled. We curled up around each other and sat quietly. It only took another fifteen minutes before Xhirx was sleeping silently in my arms. I kept my arms around her waist and felt like I shouldn't be allowed to have such a treasure. But, I do suppose that makes me a lucky guy. I may not deserve her, but she sure does think I do. Smiling, I rested there, thinking on that.

Now, if I could just sleep…the world would be more than perfect.


End file.
